Monday, December 10, 2012

the prodigy : self motivation

I have this one little girl I treat who I honestly think of as a prodigy. A very bright and talented girl who is afraid of dental treatments. After two visits, I decided to start introducing local anaesthesia (LA) to her. When I told her that today's filling will require LA, her face became pale out of anxiety. I was supposed to do a composite strip crown on her deciduous canine. She had been smiling very shyly because her canine was simply jet black. "Ika, ready ya, akak nak tidurkan gigi dah". 1mm of needle penetration while pushing that Scandonest 2% slowly, she started to push my hand away. "Aaaaa ulat terkeluar", I was forced to lie and she sat still. Then I slowly advanced the needle little by little. "Ok, sayang, dah siap dah cucuk", I patted her shoulder. She looked at me, bewildered. "Eh tak kan dah siap? Kenapa tak sakit? Semut gigit pun lagi sakit". After finishing her strip crown, I asked her whether I can extract her deciduous molar during our next appointment. "Beres, Dr Z oyak ja bila" and smiled happily, knowing LA administration isn't as painful as most people think. "Zahirah, you did a very beautiful restoration. Congratulations", Dr Mon Mon complimented. Real satisfaction is when your patient compliments you, that's what I think. After that, I noticed her smiling widely for no apparent reasons. "Dr Z, gigi kita come. Kan best kalau Kak Z jadi doktor gigi saya sorang. Terima kasih. Bye bye", and she shook my hands. I smiled with satisfaction.

This morning, I saw Prof Zainul rushing towards Prof Sam. Then he came to me and asked me to fill up his friend's son tooth. I did it in a rush since I had only 40minutes and the tooth was broken by half its height. After bidding that kid goodbye, Prof Zainul came back. "Prof Sam cakap awak student year 5 yang boleh harap buat anterior restoration. Saya sendiri tak tahu takat mana awak tampal, good job, Zahirah. Thank you. Really, thank you", he said and waved. Another satisfying case this morning. Actually it was an easy case because that kid already has a denture replacing his 21 and 22. So I just compared the shade guide to the ones on that denture. I was experimenting actually, and I guess it worked. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble now that the sister saw me treating a patient ten minutes beyond office hours. Ahh, whatever. I prioritise my patients.

This evening however, I guess I really worked too hard today, running here and there trying to treat as many patients as I could while maintaining the quality of my work. I was supposed to construct a special tray for my final porcelain-bonded to metal crown patient during this extension. I went to the lab, saw Puan Haslina to follow up my very first two veneer cases which I will be issuing tomorrow, and I shoved my lab coat back into my locker. "I'm too exhausted mentally. I feel like vomiting already", I said to myself, and made my back to my room. The sun was extremely bright this evening. In two hours time, I will be going to Ly Studio to practise for this weekend's performance with my band. 8-10pm. Hopefully I'll have enough strength. Hopefully my brain and body will bear with me. So much focus for so long. All will be fine, insya Allah.

For the Soul

Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri and Abu Huraira:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that."